Freedom is a complex beast
In the film I, Robot, the 2004 Will Smith thriller—Sonny the robot says at the end, “Now that I have fulfilled my purpose, I don’t know what to do.” Will Smith’s […]
Monthly Archives: May 2014
Tell Me A Story About Who I Am
Who am I? Who are you? Who are we? What is that makes “us” a “we?” Some combination of these questions is nearly always whirring around in the background of […]
Stanley Fish and the emptiness of generic ‘grace’
Not long ago, Stanley Fish (professor of Humanities at Florida International University and public intellectual) took an opportunity to respond to critics who thought that a recent Coen brothers’ film, […]
Why does the world exist?
Why do you exist? Why do I? How can it be that these words on a computer screen – written in a distant place, carried by invisible impulses, displayed by […]
Early History is a Matter of Revelation
In his memoir Dreams from my Father, Barack Obama unveils something of the complex development of his identity. Written before his political career started, in his early 30s, Obama narrates […]
Religion, Violence, and the “Higher Questions”
When my kids were younger, I would often take refuge from the delights of dragging unwilling toddlers through a shopping mall by camping out for a few minutes at one […]
Wondering Fair 